- GIS for iPads is on the public NFIC servercan be overlaid by Air Attacks, ask your GIS team.

DIY Instructions:

Passive hands-free Infrared: Long heralded as breakthrough technology for fire fighting, good IR cameras have become so inexpensive that here is no reason not to install one on every Air Attack plane. Installation & FAA certification are also easy, and so is usage. Fixed mounted side looking infrared (SLIR) sees through the smoke and dark. SLIR requires no training or 3rd person board. It is so easy that on the first flight both the Air Attack and pilot will become completely functional.

Detailed situational awareness and names can quickly earn the respect of locals. Clam-shell Laptops should not be used in the cockpit, but rather Tablet PCs. Use either DeLorme Topo USA or DeLorme XMap 7 Pro (requires Win7 Pro). They are easy to use and connect to Bluetooth wireless or USB wired GPS for moving-map.

GIS teams on large fires normally produce map data that helps Air Attacks. Fire lines, hot spots, burn out, dozer & hand lines, division breaks, drop points, dip sites and more overlays are all oriented on the moving topos with instant situational awareness and ability to zoom in - out. This will allow you to do some things previously not possible, in addition to the obvious of quickly finding everything. DeLorme XMap imports ESRI .shp files directly one by one. DeLorme Topo and Maptech require the GIS team to first create special .gpx files.

Free app downloads allow for offline moving map topos. Tactical GIS app is being developed for fire fighters. Anyone with a GPS enable SmartPhone can show their real-time GPS position on each others map.

Latitude, who makes many of the AFF (Automated Flight Following) boxes, already installed in fire aircraft, has written a Windows utility to transfer fire maps from the cockpit to the ground. Maps transmits as Google Earth attachments through email to a group list. Perimeter maps can transmit within a minute directly to anyone or everyone on the IC team, GIS and dispatch. Even frontline firefighters can receive them on an iPhone or SmartPhone running Google Earth.

This content is all provided as a free service by the community of aerial fire fighters.